The multi-store model of memory Flashcards
Multi-store model
A representation of how memory works in terms of three stores called sensory register,short term memory and long term memory.It also describes how information is transferred from one store to another,how it is remembered and how it is forgotten
who proposed the model
Atkinson and Shiffrin
sensory register
The memory store for each of our senses and is where information from the environment is obtained e.g vision (iconic store) and hearing (echoic store).coding in the iconic store is visual and in the echoic store coding is acoustic. The capacity of the sensory register is huge and information lasts a for a very short time.
STM
The limited capacity store as it can only contain a certain number of things before forgetting takes place.Capacity is 7+- 2.Coding takes place acoustically and lasts 30secs unless it is rehersed
Maintenance rehearsal
occurs when we repeat material to ourselves.if rehearsed long enough it passes into the LTM
LTM
Permanent memory store for information that has been rehearsed for a prolonged time.capacity is unlimited.coding takes place semantically
retrieval
the process of transferring information from the LTM to the STM
strength of MSM: supporting research evidence
strength- it’s supported by research studies that show that STM and LTM are qualitatively different e.g baddeley’s study found that we tent to mix words that have similar meanings when we use our LTMs. The strength of this study is that it clearly that coding in STM is acoustic and semantic in the LTM. This shows they are different and supports the MSM’s view that these two memory stores are separate and independent.
weakness: There is more than one type of STM
The MSM states the STM is a unitary store, however evidence from people suffering from amnesia shows this cannot be true.
weakness of MSM: Shallice and Warrington
studied a patient with amnesia known as KF. They found that KF’s STM for digit’s was poor when they read them out loud to him.But his recall was much better when he read the digit’s to himself. Further studies of KF and other people with amnesia showed there could be another STM for non verbal sounds.Therefore the unitary STM is a limitation of the MSM because research shows that at the very least there must be one STM to process visual information and another for auditory information.
weakness of the MSM: there is more than one type of rehearsal
The MSM shows the more an individual rehearses the more likely information will transfer to the LTM
weakness of MSM : Craik and Watkins
found that this prediction was wrong .What really matters about rehearsal is the type. They discovered there are tow types of rehearsal: Maintenance rehearsal , which is described the the MSM,but it does not transfer information into the the LTM , it just maintains it in the STM . Elaborated rehearsal which is needed for long term storage.This occurs when link the information to your existing knowledge or you think about what it means.This a serious limitation of the MSM because is it another research finding that cannot be explained by the model.
weakness of MSM : artificial material
most of the research used to support the MSM use meaningless materials. e.g trigrams from peterson and peterson’s study.cannot generalise=lacks ecological validity.
The case of HM
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